Full circle
by harrypotterfan098
Summary: Marauders AU: Everyone in the wizarding world has a soul mate, usually only one but some can have two or even three. You can usually tell who they are by having a strong reaction to them. What happens when Sirius, Remus and Severus realise they are each other's soul mates? SiriusxRemusxSeverus, RegulusxLuciusxNarcissa, JamesxLily
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own these characters nor do I make any money from this.**

 **Chapter 1**

The first time Sirius set eyes on him he had just been sorted into Gryffindor. He had been vaguely watching the rest of the sorting and remaining first years, too caught up in his own thoughts. He felt relieved he wasn't in Slytherin, this was basically proof to himself and the world that he wasn't like his parents.

He was just starting to think about what was going to happen when his parents found out, when he caught sight of a boy he hadn't noticed before waiting for his turn with the hat. He had black hair framing a pale face and a slightly big nose, but what caught his attention were his big black eyes. Even from where he sat he could still see them sparkling with excitement and nerves. Sirius's heart started beating faster, his hands became slightly clammy. He couldn't tear his eyes away, and he didn't know why. The boy had a small smile on his face whilst talking to a girl with long red hair. He suddenly felt a twinge of jealousy at the girl. The professor who had led them in called another name and the girl with the red hair smiled at the boy before walking to the hat. Sirius couldn't care less at that moment about where the girl got sorted; he was still watching the boy. After what felt like merely a minute of staring, but must have been much longer from the amount of pupils left to be sorted, the professor called out 'Snape, Severus', and the boy started walking to the hat.

'Aha!' He thought, 'So Severus is his name'. 'I like it, it suits him. I wonder where he gets sorted, he looks really clever so maybe Ravenclaw. But I bet he would look even better in red and gold. Severus was still sat on the stool. Sirius unconsciously held his breath in anticipation.

'Slytherin!'

A polite round of applause came from the Slytherin table. Sirius' stomach dropped as he watched the boy join Slytherin. 'He's just a slimy snake.' He thought to himself. As he watched the boy, his thoughts clouded with anger and resentment. Watching Severus Snape sitting there with a Slytherin tie, the boy's nose now seemed much too big to him, the black hair he had admired moments ago seemed dreary and dull from where he could see. And his eyes, which had captured him before now looked too dark and sneaky. The more he now looked at the Slytherin the more flaws he started picking out in his mind, until Sirius realised why the boy must have captured his attention, not because he liked him, no, but because he was everything he hated. Or so he thought.

Before he could ponder the boy any longer, the table in front of him suddenly filled with food.

'Hey, I'm James Potter', said a voice beside him. Sirius finally noticed who was sat next to him. The voice had come from another first year; he vaguely remembered having seen the boy on the platform before boarding the train. He had messy black hair, round rimmed glasses and hazel eyes.

'Hi, I'm Sirius Black', he replied.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I don't own these characters nor do I make any money from this.**

 **Chapter 2**

 **Remus**

It was fifth year and James and Sirius had just confessed what they had been doing.

For a few months now Remus had suspected that they were keeping something from him. Whenever he joined them they would stop talking and start a new conversation. Sometimes in the evenings they would leave him claiming they needed to meet up with the rest of the quidditch team to talk strategy or something. However he knew they were hiding something, because when had they ever met up to talk quidditch strategy before? No, it was an excuse to leave him while they did something together alone. And Remus thought he knew what.

Ever since the first time he laid eyes upon Sirius, he knew there was something special about him. Even now just thinking about him made butterflies rise in his stomach and his heart pound. Sirius had thick wavy black hair and grey eyes which reminded him of an overcast day. He was beautiful, and Remus had admitted to himself that he had a crush on him. Who wouldn't, when just his presence in a room made everything brighter. But the biggest reason Remus liked him was that Sirius didn't care about the wolf.

'You're still you Remy, nothing will ever change that.' That had been the first thing Sirius had said to him after he found out about the wolf. And this meant more to Remus than he could ever say.

However, he had started to suspect that maybe James had finally noticed Sirius like Remus had. Although James had spent the last five years following Lily around like a lost puppy, what if he had finally given up on her and decided Sirius would do? Well he could hardly blame Sirius, even though he had never seemed to have shown a romantic inclination in anyone. He always seemed too caught up in planning the next prank or tormenting Slytherin's (or more like just one Slytherin mind you, but Remus never allowed himself to think too much about that particular person).

But what if Sirius had decided he finally wanted to be with someone too, and why not James. He was just as dashing and fun as Sirius was. They were both on the quidditch team and had so much in common. Why wouldn't he want James over someone like Remus who looked average at best, was a werewolf and wasn't as witty or charming as them, but sensible, bookish, and more likely to be found in the library.

It made him sick and his stomach to twist in knots just thinking about Sirius with James together. So when they had both come to him earlier to say they had something to tell him in private, he was sure he knew what they were going to say and he was dreading it.

They had led him to a large empty classroom and set up silencing and privacy wards.

'Remus, there's something we want to show you. These last few months whenever we've been-' James started.

'Oh, I think I know', Remus cut him off, looking at the ground, lightly clenching his fists. He didn't want to hear him say it. Didn't want the truth spelled out in from of him.

'What! How do you know? It was supposed to be a surprise! I told you we should have practiced somewhere else!' Sirius said annoyed at James.

'What! I didn't ruin the surprise, I bet it was you! You're the one who can't keep your trap shut! I bet you've been running round the classrooms as him'.

Wait, what? Running round the classrooms? Oh, maybe he had got the wrong end of the stick. His shoulders sagged as he felt a wave of relief spread over him. He unclenched his tense hands and looked up at them. They were both still arguing over who ruined the surprise, they certainly didn't look like secret boyfriends would, he imagined. He suddenly smiled.

'Hold on', Remus cut in again, James and Sirius both stopped talking and looked at him. Sirius still with his mouth open.

'I don't know what you're talking about. I just thought you had been planning quidditch strategies', Remus supplied.

A look of relief came over James's face and a look of triumph over Sirius'.

'See, I told you he'd fall for it Jamesy, hook, line and sinker. Ahh Remy you're too gullible, that was actually our cover.' Sirius said with a smug grin.

Remus tried to hide his smile but failed, Sirius was so innocent and trusting sometimes. But now he was actually getting curious. If they weren't secretly making out then what had they been doing?

'Every month we have to leave you at the shrieking shack by yourself to cope with the wolf but not now', James supplied.

'I don't understand', Remus started.

'You see, we want to be there with you and help you. Plus I've never seen the wolf before and I want too. So we thought how we could join you without the wolf hurting us back?' said Sirius.

'Hold on, what have you done?' Remus was starting to get worried.

'Oh, let's just show him', said James, whilst charming all the desks against the wall creating a large space in the middle of the room.

'Show me what?'

Sirius and James didn't answer; instead they stood in the middle of the room, a few meters apart and closed their eyes. They both had intense looks of concentration upon their faces. Remus didn't have a clue what they were doing, but before he could question further they both started changing. Where James had stood there was now a big chestnut coloured stag with antlers over a meter wide, and in Sirius' place a great big shaggy black dog stood.

Before he could begin to comprehend what he'd just seen the shaggy dog suddenly yelped loudly running forward, he jumped up putting his two front paws on Remus' shoulders and started licking his face.

The stag gave a snort as if wanting attention as well and stomped one of its hooves.

Remus started laughing at the dog's antics, but after a few minutes when it still hadn't got off him he tried pushing it off. The dog gave a low whine as if in protest but stopped when Remus told it to. However it didn't move far, instead it decided to sit at Remus' feet.

'When, did you- how- I don't understand- in secret?' Remus didn't know where to begin. They had obviously both managed the animagus transformation, something which not even incredibly powerful and accomplished adults could master.

The stag changed back into James.

'I know, it's a lot to take in, but come on of course we could do it, you know how amazing we are at transfiguration', James said with a cocky grin. 'And we only even started practicing it for you Remy. I mean I always planned on learning when I was older, so why not now. Plus now we have these forms we can join you. Ain't that right Siri?' Sirius still hadn't changed back, he seemed content to stay at Remus' feet. After James and Remus both looked at the dog, Remus also giving him a slight nudge with his foot, the dog eventually stood up and changed back into Sirius.

'God, what took you so long?' James said, slightly annoyed. 'I thought you said you knew it perfectly?'

Sirius meanwhile had an odd look on his face, and kept looking at the ground. 'I do, I guess I was just comfortable', he then looked up at Remus, and his cheeks flushed.

'You okay?' Remus asked with a frown.

'Huh? What – yeah I'm perfect, never better', he said suddenly straightening up.

'So what do you think, impressive right, and we can join you now', Sirius babbled excitedly.

Remus laughed, 'Yeah that was definitely impressive. How long has it taken you to learn how to do that? And why didn't you tell me?

'We decided to do it over the summer when Sirius moved in with me, and we've been teaching ourselves and practicing since then. So about 5 months in total',

Remus was impressed, 'That's amazing!'

James grinned cockily and Sirius puffed his chest up and gave a smug grin.

'And we wanted it to be a surprise so we didn't tell you' said Sirius.

Remus's chest filled with warmth for his friends. They cared for so much that they spent 5 months mastering arguably one of the hardest bits of Transfiguration. Before he came to Hogwarts he would never have believed he would make friends like these.

'I don't think you should join me on the full moon. The wolf could still hurt you in those forms; and I'm not taking any risks'.

'What! No! Why do you think we did this anyway? We're coming whether you like it or not.' Sirius said with a pout and his arms crossed. He looked so much like a toddler throwing a tantrum; Remus would have laughed if it wasn't so important.

'Yeah, I agree. You can't say no before we've even tried. Plus we're going to be in animal forms, and there's two of us and one of you. If the wolf gets a bit too much I'm sure together we'll be able to handle it.' James reasoned.

Remus sighed, he knew that whatever he said Sirius and James would do what they wanted either way, and they could both be equally stubborn especially when they agreed on something.

'Okay, fine. But you have to promise that if anything happens, if the wolf is too aggressive you have to leave and you'll never even think about joining me again'.

'Yes, we're gonna do it!' Sirius said excitedly. 'And yeah okay we promise', he added when Remus frowned, 'It's gonna be great, you'll never be alone again. I can't wait for tomorrow night now.'

The full moon was tomorrow night, and James and Sirius were going to join him for the first time. He didn't know whether to be excited or to turn round and ban them from coming. Either way it was too late now, he knew however much he warned them against it they would try anyway. At least until they knew what it was like for themselves. Sometimes he thought bravery was overrated; especially when it made you do stupid things like willingly go near a werewolf.

* * *

 **Sirius**

Sirius lay awake that night, he knew he should try to get some sleep since he would be spending the whole of the next night awake with Remus on a full moon. But how could he, when he had just realised Remus was his soul mate.

The moment he had turned into his animagus form as the grim, he had instinctively recognised Remus as his soul mate. He had wanted to curl up and never leave his side. He couldn't believe it. It had never occurred to him Remus could be his mate. Sure he liked him and he considered Remus to be his best friend after James; he would do anything to help him and protect him from being hurt. But that's what you would do for any friend, right?

But Remus was more than that, he was his mate. Having grown up in the wizarding world, Sirius knew a bit abut mates. He knew that if someone encountered their soul mate they were supposed to have strong feelings for them, and he supposed that fit. He did have strong feelings for Remus, ever since he had met him in first year and spoken to him at the Gryffindor table at the welcoming feast he had known he was someone he wanted to be around. But he had thought it was just platonic friendship.

In the wizarding world it was a known fact that every witch and wizard had a soul mate. Occasionally some people could have two mates, but there had been a few extremely rare cases where some people even had up to three mates. There was no guarantee upon even ever meeting you soul mate in your lifetime, so it was considered to be incredibly special and something to be cherished if you did.

There was no physical way to tell if someone was your mate; however it was said that the first time a person saw their mate they would feel a strong connection to them. Since often people didn't understand what this was it could be expressed as a strong friendship or love. In some cases unfortunate cases it could be a strong dislike and even hate towards their mate.

Sirius definitely felt strong friendship, and maybe that was okay. Being soul mates didn't necessarily mean you had to be together as anything more. People everyday fell in love and married people who weren't their soul mates and they lived perfectly happy lives.

However the reason finding your soul mate was considered so special was because on top of marriage, only soul mates could partake in a bonding ceremony called the Unification of Souls. This meant mates would be able to feel each other's presence, although Sirius didn't understand what this meant, and that mates will be able to feel when the other was in pain. This was useful since mates were able to heal each other. Therefore bonded mates generally had longer life spans due to continuously healing each other and being in peak physical fitness.

Although the downside was that once bonded, mates weren't able to ever break the bond or be with someone outside the bond. The bond wouldn't allow mates to hurt each other, and infidelity would be considered hurting their mate. But the biggest downside Sirius could see in the bond was that if a bonded mate died so would the other mate. One could not live without the other.

Sirius hadn't read anywhere about animagus forms being able to recognise their mates, and now had no idea what to do with the information. He figured he should probably tell Remus what he knew. But what was the point? It wasn't like it was going to change anything, was it?

Sirius could easily go and be with someone else and there was a cute Ravenclaw girl he had noticed looking his way a few times now. And Remus could easily go out and find himself someone; in fact he might already have someone he liked. However before he could even finish the thought, his stomach twisted in jealousy.

What if there was someone else Remus liked? Someone else that Remus would go and spend time with, talk with, hang out with. What if someone else kissed Remus or even touched him? Sirius clenched his fists as his heart rate increased and anger and jealousy suddenly clouded his vision. Over his dead body was someone else going to go near Remus! Remus was his, his to hold, his to protect, his to love and most importantly HIS mate. Could Sirius ever consider Remus as anything other than a best friend? Hell yeah, he could!

'Oh my God!' thought Sirius, 'I like Remus'.

Sirius was never one to wallow and commiserate over something for long; he preferred facing it head on. 'Right ', he thought to himself, 'I just have to get Remus to like me back. Well that can't be too hard, I am pretty irresistible', he chuckled to himself. Finally having come to some sort of conclusion in his mind, Sirius sighed and rolled over in bed.

He couldn't wait to finally go out tomorrow night and see the side of Remus he had never seen.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I don't own these characters nor do I make any money from this.**

 **A/N:** Wow thanks for the reviews! I wasn't expecting anyone to review but it really helped to motivate me for the next chapter so thank you.

 **Chapter 3**

 **Severus**

Down in the Slytherin dorms, Severus was quickly getting ready to head out for breakfast.

He quickly double checked he had all he needed and set out for the great hall. As he reached the top of the stairs leading out the dungeons he caught sight of Lily coming down reaching the bottom of the stairs from the first floor.

'Morning Lily',

'Morning', she said as she caught up to him in front of the great hall.

They chatted as they walked into the great hall together. This was why he would always get up early; Lily was an early riser, so this meant he was able to spend a few spare minutes alone with her.

'I'll see you in Potions', Severus said as he started turning towards the Slytherin table.

'Wait Sev, every morning we meet like this, don't you ever want to eat together?'

Of course he did, but what was she thinking? He would just happily go sit at the Gryffindor table? That would only give his house mates another reason to shun him more than they already did. Not to mention the glares and snide comments he would receive from the idiot Potter and Black brigade.

'I'm not going to sit at the Gryffindor table Lily.'

'I'm not asking you to, I could sit with you.'

Severus knew he loved her but now they were in their fifth year and her continuing her naiveté sometimes grated on him. If the Slytherins just about managed to tolerate him as a half blood even though he was a Slytherin, there was no way they would let a muggleborn Gryffindor sit among their midst. Everyone knew of his friendship with Lily, and he wouldn't give it up for anyone, but he still received odd comments from the more prejudiced members of his house.

'You know they would only be sending us hexes the whole time we sat there'.

'Come on Sev, I've been thinking about this! They need to get over whatever they have against me and what better way to start than sitting together at the same table, and proving that house rivalry and blood don't matter when it comes to being friends.'

'To you maybe', thought Severus.

However aloud he said 'I've told you Lily, it may not matter to us, but no one else sees it that way. Why don't we sit outside instead?'

'Okay, fine', said Lily begrudgingly before grabbing some toast and Severus an apple. They walked towards the entrance and out to sit by the tree that Severus liked to think of as theirs.

* * *

 **Sirius**

Sirius was a ball of nervous excitement. Not only was tonight the night that James and he were going to see the wolf, but he also now knew Remus was his mate. Of course he was yet to confirm this officially, but waking up to see Remus in his pyjamas, bleary eyed and still half asleep trying to get out of bed and wake up, had been the cutest thing he had ever seen. He was now beginning to see Remus in a new light, and it made him want to grab him and never let go. But first he needed to make Remus want him back.

So this morning he had put in extra effort to look good. He had put some gel in his hair and made sure he was wearing his best set of school robes. He ended up spending almost twice as long getting ready making sure nothing looked out of place.

* * *

 **Remus**

Sirius was acting slightly odd. Remus noticed this because he noticed almost everything about him. He had been up before everyone else, including Remus who was usually first up, his hair looked different (not that Remus was complaining, it just made him want to run his fingers through it even more) and he was slightly subdued.

The first lesson was potions and as usual he went to go sit next to Peter, who had just sat at the table behind James and Sirius's normal one.

'Um, Remus why don't you sit next to me?'

'Wait what? Why are we moving seats?' said James who was about to sit down.

'I want to sit next to Remus, he's the best at potions out of us and I actually want to pass.'

'Since when have you ever given a shit about potions?'

'Since now so just move' Sirius said as he grabbed Remus' arm and budged James out the way and sat down.

Remus gave James an apologetic look for taking his seat. James just looked confused as he sat down next to Peter behind Sirius.

'Well it's good to know no one wants to sit next to me' said Peter with a pout, making James grin.

Remus turned to Sirius who was looking slightly flushed.

'Really? You actually want to try in Potions?' asked Remus.

Sirius and James were the best in the year when it came to Transfiguration and also good at Charms. But both had seemed to despise Potions, probably because it required patience and attention to detail, something which both Sirius and James didn't do.

Remus also enjoyed Charms and had a natural affinity for DADA, which he suspected may be because of the dark creature within him. However since Remus was aware of how lucky he was to be getting an education at all because of Dumbledore, he always tried his best in every subject and always managed to get at least above average in everything. This for Potions was better than any of his friends.

'Yeah of course I meant it! It's the OWLs this year and since you're the best I figured you could help me.'

'Oh, that's really admirable Sirius I'd be happy to help you.'

* * *

 **Sirius**

For the next half hour Sirius worked diligently, although instead of listening to Slughorn he would just listen and do whatever Remus said.

'I'm just going to stir this 12 times now counter clockwise, could you get some more powdered blue beetle I don't think we have enough?'

'Yeah sure'

As Sirius walked back from the store cupboard past James and Peter's table with the powdered blue beetle James stopped him.

'Look at that!' James said angrily.

Sirius looked at their potion which was a sickly yellow colour but new it was supposed to be a dark blue like his own by now.

'Hahaha, I knew sitting next to Remus was a good idea, that's it in Potions I'm always sitting next to him', laughed Sirius.

'Not that you prat, look at them!' said James pointing towards the front of the classroom.

Sirius looked round and saw Snape and Lily both whispering bent close together over the cauldron as Snape stirred. There was that irrational anger he always felt flare up again when he saw Snape, which always seemed to be worse when Snape was around Lily. He told himself it was because he was angry on James' behalf since he knew he liked her.

He glared at his back as he went and placed the powdered blue beetle on his own desk.

'Can you weigh out half a pound?' Remus asked. Sirius tore his eyes away from Snape's back and looked at Remus.

'Sure'

As Sirius weighed it out he kept glancing over at Snape's back.

'Okay now we've put that in we need to let it boil for 5 minutes okay' he heard Remus say beside him. He looked over and saw Remus bent over reading his textbook. He turned round and gave James a sneaky grin.

Turning round he waited for Lily to take a step away from Snape. He grabbed hold of his wand and quietly spoke, ' _Flipendo_ '.

As he said it Snape took a step to the side.

In that moment Sirius felt time slow down. The jinx hit the cauldron which swayed and then tipped over. A wall of boiling perfect dark blue liquid immediately poured out over the side and straight for Snape.

Sirius stopped breathing.

'Sev-!' Lily began to cry.

Snape turned to look back just in time to get hit with the boiling potion. Lily screamed stepping back from the potion which was now slowly spreading across the floor. Others started noticing, rushing forward wanting to have a look at what was going on.

Snape was covered in it from his hair, face and entire front. He swayed for a second before crumpling to the floor.

Sirius took a step forward to take a look as well before someone grabbed his arm.

'Don't you think you've done enough?' hissed Remus beside him. Sirius could tell how angry he was from how hard he was gripping and new it would leave nail marks. This close to the full moon, Remus sometimes forgot how strong he was.

'I wasn't... I didn't... I mean I was just going to ch –'

'I know it was you! I saw you glaring at him the whole time. He didn't even provoke you!

By now Slughorn had bustled over, scourgified the potion, put Snape on a stretcher and had Lily take him to the infirmary. James had also come over and clapped Sirius on the shoulder.

'Nice one Siri', he spoke in a low voice, 'that was perfect, how did you time it so well? And calm down Remus it's only Snivellus'; he sneered. 'He deserved it anyway.'

'Both of you are unbelievable', said Remus visibly deflating.

He reminded himself James was right, it was only Snivellus, he deserved it anyway.

'Ha ha, yeah calm down Remus, he'll get over it, he always does. Anyway come on, now Snivellus is out for the count we're definitely best in class' said Sirius, trying to distract Remus.

He started ladling out the now finished potion into a vial. It wouldn't be good to have his mate angry with him when he was trying to woo him; especially when your mate was an incredibly strong and scary werewolf, which you were going to meet later that night.


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I don't own these characters nor do I make any money from this.**

 **Chapter 4**

 **Sirius**

'Ouch!'

'Shhh!', whispered Sirius. Sirius and James were both under James' invisibility cloak following Remus and Madam Pomfrey towards the whomping willow. Remus had already explained what happened and where he went years ago when they had first found out.

'You stepped on my foot', hissed James back at Sirius.

Up ahead, Remus shot a quick worried look back at them, before continuing his conversation with Madam Pompfrey.

Eventually they reached the whomping willow, Remus grabbed a long stick and poked the knot in the trunk, paralysing the tree and revealing the entrance to the secret tunnel. Madam Pomfrey, started giving Remus the routine lecture he received each month to be careful and to go immediately to the infirmary as soon as he woke, as if Remus had suddenly forgotten after 5 years. However Remus appreciated it all the same, it felt nice to know someone was worried and it always distracted him for a minute from what was to come. Today however Remus wanted her to hurry up and leave, he was worried about Sirius and James.

Madam Pomfrey's talk however gave Sirius and James the perfect opportunity to slip past them and into the tunnel, where they impatiently waited for Madam Pomfrey to finish already. At last she was done and gave Remus a final sympathetic glance, before he slipped into the tunnel and moved the long stick effectively closing the entrance behind him.

'Lumos' said Remus. The dark was immediately bathed in light and Sirius and James took off the cloak.

'Finally! I thought she was never going to end', exclaimed Sirius, as James tucked the cloak into a bag he had brought along.

'Come on, we haven't got much time left before the full moon', said Remus nervously. 'Follow me'.

Remus led them through the tunnel until they reached the shrieking shack. The windows were boarded up as well as the front and back doors as well as warded, so there was no chance that the wolf would escape. After they entered and shut the door behind them, Remus led them into the living room.

'I keep my clothes in here', said Remus gesturing to a trapdoor in the floor. 'That way the wolf can't ruin them, like it would if they were in a cupboard'.

They sat on a conjured rug waiting in silence for a sign of Remus' transformation, all too nervous to make conversation. Sirius found it hard not to stare at Remus; who had taken off his off his shirt and trousers and safely stored them by now. He had never seen Remus like this, he was usually up and ready before everyone. But now he saw Remus' whole body was covered in faint scars, none of were that big (apart from the mark across his shoulder were the werewolf who turned him had bit him). Remus had mentioned in the past the wolf liked to scratch itself and he assumed these scars must have come from then. When Sirius started doubting anything was even going to happen, Remus suddenly cried out clutching his side.

'Remus!' cried Sirius, taking a step forward.

'Stay back!' said Remus between grit teeth.

He was on his knees, by now lightly panting as if short of breath.

'It's started, change now!'

Sirius wanting to help Remus stood helplessly as he watched the muscle beneath Remus' skin start to shift resulting in bumps appearing all over his body.

'Come on, Sirius! Move!' shouted James grabbing his arm and dragging him back from Remus who started screaming in pain. He was by now was laying on his side, and his fingers and toes seemed to be shrinking back into his hands and feet to make paw like shapes. Fur had also started sprouting in tufts all over his body.

'We have to change Sirius!' James shook Sirius' arm to get his attention.

'R-Right', Sirius finally tore his eyes and turned his back to Remus. He knew he would never be able to stop looking at him long enough to change. Concentrate he told himself. He could hear Remus whimpering in pain and his screams which started sounding distinctly like howls now and then. Finally closing his eyes he cleared his mind and concentrated on his animagus form.

Finally after what felt like hours but must have been a few minutes of concentration at most he opened his eyes and turned around to see a big stag pawing the ground where James had been. Internally he gavea relieved sigh, they had both transformed, turning around he realised not a moment too soon. Where Remus had been was now a great big grey wolf, with yellow eyes. It stood sniffing the air emitting small growls, looking between the stag and the dog.

The wolf took a step forward, nose in the air sniffing. It suddenly took a big leap forward and jumped onto the Sirius, licking his face.

This propelled the stag to charge forward as well and give the wolf a slight nudge, as if wanting attention too. And suddenly the shack was full of the howls, barks and growls as the animals spent the night chasing and playing with each other all over the house.

* * *

 **Remus**

Remus opened his eyes and saw the now familiar ceiling of the infirmary. Wincing from the sunlight he looked down at himself. Aside from the usual aches and general exhaustion he felt after the full moon he didn't feel any extra pain he sometimes had when he had injured himself. He carefully pulled back the blanket and pulled the standard hospital pyjama top all students were given and looked down at his chest and stomach. There were a number of cuts and bruises littering his skin. This was to be expected and nowhere as bad as on previous occasions when he had woken with deep cuts from when the wolf had bitten and scratched itself. He had countless scars, some small enough you wouldn't unless you peered closely, and some glaring obvious against his pale skin. Not to mention the biggest and most obvious scar. Remus sighed as he pulled down his top and pulled back the blanket back over him.

After waking up in the shrieking shack he would walk back to the infirmary were Madam Pomfrey would have a bed with screens around to protect his secret and a pain relieving potion ready. This morning though Sirius and James had been there. So after making sure they weren't injured, he had said goodbye as they huddled under the invisibility cloak and went back to the tower and he had come here.

'You're awake, Remus', Madam Pomfrey walked round the edge of the screen smiling at him. She took out her wand and started casting diagnostic checks. 'How are you feeling?'

'Okay, just the usual tiredness', at that moment his stomach made a loud growl and Remus's face flushed red.

Madam Pomfrey's lips twitched. 'Well, you're not seriously hurt, you have bruising and scratches which are to be expected. And your exhaustion will be fixed with rest. It's just after 11 now so you've only had 5 hours of sleep. After you've had breakfast go back to sleep'. With a final smile she walked round the screen and left.

A moment later a big tray containing cereal, toast, an assortment of jams and marmalade, a glass of orange juice and his favourite; a massive plate of a full English breakfast appeared on the table beside his bed, obviously sent from the house elves. Remus was always famished after the full moon, so much so in fact he would always wake after a few hours just from hunger and today was no exception. Carefully balancing the tray onto his knees he tucked in.

As he ate he let his mind wonder to what happened the night before. He couldn't remember everything, but he remembered butting heads with a great big stag. Both equally matched in strength. He remembered a great big black dog and chasing both of them. For once the wolf had had someone to play and fight with; this explained why he didn't have more injuries since the wolf didn't have just himself. Remus smiled to himself, he had such great friends.

Wait; there was something he was forgetting about last night, something important. He suddenly had an image of the big dog. There had been a scent, something the wolf had recognised about Sirius. What was it? Remus could feel his frustration building. He placed the now empty tray back on the side table, where it then vanished. Think Remus he thought to himself. There was something important about Sirius, the wolf had recognised it.

'Remy'

'Ahh – ', a disembodied hand suddenly clamped over Remus' mouth. After the sound of some shuffling, Sirius appeared standing beside his bed. He took his hand away. His hair looked dishevelled from the invisibility cloak he placed on the bed.

Taking his wand from his pocket he cast a silencing charm and sat on a chair next to him. Remus never got visitors since no one was supposed to know he was here. But Sirius, James and Peter would sneak in and always see him, but never this early.

'Merlin, Remy after so long you'd think you would of got used to that'

'Hey! It's still weird to suddenly hear your name coming out of nowhere',

'Okay, okay', said Sirius with a smile.

Remus sat up higher in the bed, folding his legs under the blankets. 'Why aren't you in bed? You must be shattered after last night'.

Sirius toeing off his shoes sat on the bed, pulling up his legs he mirrored Remus's position. 'I know, I slept a bit but couldn't go back to sleep once I woke. James is out like the living dead. Don't expect to see him today. And Peter's not asked anything, since he's still having a lie in since its Saturday. So I thought I'd come, I know you have breakfast round this time.'

As Sirius was speaking Remus still hadn't remembered what it was about Sirius that he was forgetting.

'Hey, earth to Remus', said Sirius shaking his hand in front of Remus's face.

'Huh? What?'

'You okay? You were spacing out'

'Oh sorry, I was thinking about last night'.

'Yes! It was amazing, you know the wolf isn't that scary, it just licked my face mostly and we chased each other all round the shack. Don't know if it liked James all that much though', said Sirius laughing. 'They kept charging each other face on, the wolf kept head butting James' antlers.'

Remus suddenly had a flashback of Sirius as a dog lying under him on his back with him on top licking his jaw. What was he forgetting?

'I think the wolf prefers me you know, can't wait to say that to James. Hey Remy I've been thinking, now we're going to be doing this we should have code words so we can talk whenever we want to about this.

'Yeah, that sounds good', said Remus distractedly.

'Yeah and I've already thought of one for the wolf, what do you think about Moony? I know perfect right', said Sirius smugly before Remus could answer. As he said this Sirius unfolded his legs and stretched them out so they were beside Remus.

As Remus took a breath he suddenly noticed another scent. The wolf had heightened sense and was able to pick up smells and see details he would never have been able to. But close to the full moon both before and after Remus still felt the effects for a couple days.

This scent was coming from Sirius. It smelt of wood polish and grapefruit which was Sirius's shampoo but beneath them there was a smell which was distinctly Sirius. He had smelt it before a few times when he had been near Sirius around the full moon. But this time he was flooded with images and memories of last night. The wolf had recognised this scent, had recognised it as the scent of his soul mate.

Mate! This was the smell of his soul mate, how could he have forgotten something this important. Sirius was his mate! Sirius, who he had wanted for so long.

'-yeah and I've been thinking maybe we should think of some for-'

'Mate!' blurted Remus completely forgetting Sirius's presence.

'What? What did you just say?'

'Oh, what sorry', said Remus snapping put of his stupor.

'You just said something, what was it?' said Sirius looking directly at Remus with a look of fierce determination.

'I don't know, nothing important, what were you saying before?' said Remus with a rising sense of panic. What had he said? Oh god, he had just realised Sirius was his mate and he was already making a mess of it.

'No it is important. You just said the word mate, why would you say that?'

Oh no did he really say that?

'No reason, are you sure you heard that' he said with a smile he knew looked fake.

'Yes Remus! You just said the word mate. Tell me why!'

Why wasn't Sirius letting it go thought Remus, not unless Sirius suspected it as well? Should he tell Sirius straight out that the wolf had recognised him as his mate. But he didn't want to scare Sirius, but one look at his face he knew he wasn't going to drop it. Sometimes Sirius really was too stubborn for his own good. So gathering his Gryffindor courage, even though he secretly sometimes thought he belonged in Ravenclaw, he looked at Sirius in the eye.

'Sirius, about last night'

'Yes' said Sirius eagerly.

'When I transformed and the wolf saw and smelt you for the first time, it recognised you. It recognised you as his mate'. Then because he wasn't brave enough to see his reaction, his gaze fell to the blankets.

But before he even had the chance to properly turn his face down; Sirius pounced across the remaining space between them to engulf Remus as tight as he could in his arms.

'Oomph!'

'We're mates! Mates Remus! You recognised me as well!'

'Sirius' moaned Remus against Sirius' chest where his head was squashed. As much as he never wanted to leave Sirius' arms, he was still recovering from last night.

'Oh sorry, sorry' said Sirius loosening his grip, but not completely letting Remus go.

Remus looked up at Sirius and saw his eyes sparkling with happiness and a toothy grin. He looked breathtaking. How could someone so amazing be his mate?

'Sirius, what do you mean recognised me as well? Did you know before?'

Sirius cheeks flushed red but didn't stop smiling in happiness.

'Yeah, I realised the moment I transformed into my animagus form when we showed you. It's been so hard not to tell you. But now you know as well, we can –' Sirius suddenly cut off, his smile falling from his face. He leaned back on his knees letting his arms fall.

'Sirius, what's wrong?' said Remus already wanting his arms back around him.

'I just... we're mates. And, I know mates don't have to always be together', at this Remus frowned, 'And you don't have to be with me if you don't want to Remus, even if I'm your mate. I don't want you to feel pressured to be with me', said Sirius solemnly.

Remus' frown deepened.

'What are you talking about Sirius, you're my soul mate, and you're the most magically, emotionally and physically suited person for me in the whole world. You're the other half of my soul. Not to mention I don't think the wolf would ever accept anyone else. So why would I ever want to be with anyone but you?'

Throughout his speech Sirius's grin was back and when Remus finished he leaned over and pulled Remus's face closer kissing him hard on the mouth. Remus' breath left him. The kiss was clumsy due to Sirius' continued smiling into kiss. Remus didn't dare close his eyes in case Sirius disappeared and this was a dream. The kiss gradually got better, as their lips relaxed against each others. Eventually they parted catching their breaths back.

Remus' is face was bright red and Sirius looked like the cat that got the cream, until he gave a wide yawn. The exhaustion from last night caught up to both of them. Sirius moved up joining Remus under the blankets as well. After exchanging a few more sleepy kisses they fell asleep together in the hospital bed hidden from view by the screens. The invisibility cloak left forgotten at the end of the bed.


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I don't own these characters nor do I make any money from this.**

 **Chapter 5**

 **Severus**

Severus was in the library. After the incident in potions he had missed all his lessons. Luckily he hadn't had to stay overnight but still needed to catch up with what he had missed. Normally his Saturdays were spent by the lake reading a potions journal. But because of those idiots Black and Potter, he had to try and understand how to transfigure a teacup into a tortoise from a text book, as if it wasn't already hard enough trying to learn it with McGonagall demonstrating first hand.

Snape knew it had been either Black or Potter, since who else would have done that. Just thinking about them made him tense in anger, the knuckles of his hand whitening due to how hard he was gripping his quill. Potter's animosity he could at least begin to understand, he was obsessed with Lily. And although he hated it since Potter was obviously better looking and could have had any girl but had to focus on Lily, he could still begin to understand. And it wasn't like he didn't get angry at Potter either for being near her.

However Black was different. Black didn't want Lily, yet he still tormented Severus at every opportunity and for what reason? His loyalty to Potter? Yet wasn't Lupin loyal as well but he had never actively pursued him, like Black had, although he had never stopped it either. From what he had seen Lupin would cower at the back either acting oblivious to what was happening or not caring, most probably both. This in some ways made him just as bad. And Pettigrew just wasn't worth thinking about since he never seemed to do anything but hang onto anything Black and Potter said.

Black however seemed to relish any opportunity for confrontation and always fell back on idiotic ramblings about how Severus was a 'slimy snake', or a 'pureblood fanatic'. Severus couldn't understand this; Black's own brother was a Slytherin as was the rest of his family, so why would he hate them. Not to mention Severus wasn't even a pureblood himself and his own best friend was muggleborn. Black was just a prejudiced idiot himself, and obviously didn't know the meaning of loyalty as good as he thought if you looked at how he treated his brother and family. No, Black and the rest of the Gryffindors were just a bunch of self-righteous hypocrites who thought they were better than everyone else and he hated every single one, apart from Lily of course.

Severus sighed thinking why couldn't Lily have been sorted into Slytherin, then it would have been perfect.

He looked round when he heard footsteps. Seconds later he saw Avery walk out from behind the bookshelf a few meters away from his table, and walk round into the next aisle, not having seen Severus. That was the good thing about where he was sat, the table was in a small gap behind the last aisle on this side of the library. There was just about enough space for two people to sit comfortably but it would be cramped, and unless you knew the table was there you would never think to come this way. The last aisle near his table was about the history of giants, which meant no one was likely to come this way for a book either. It was his favourite spot in the castle. Not even Lily knew about it, having only discovered it himself only a couple of years ago by accident when trying to avoid Black. He didn't know why he hadn't shared this place with her, and tried not to think about why he was reluctant to.

Spotting Avery reminded him of a very good reason why Lily did not belong in Slytherin. There had always been extreme dislike towards muggleborns in Slytherin which was made up of predominantly purebloods. Currently the only students not purebloods were like him, half bloods. Half bloods were still sneered at but were tolerated and depending on if you proved your self could even be liked. But lately there had been a rise in anti-muggleborn behaviour. He had noticed the whispers and talk about a Lord who was going to 'sort the mudbloods out'. A few times now when he had walked into his dormitory his dorm mates would stop talking when he had walked in, and lately he'd noticed them staring at him almost as if sizing him up. He wasn't sure what to make of it.

Looking down at his work, he decided to leave it until later he was getting nowhere, and it was time for lunch anyway. Packing his bag he walked down to the great hall and to the Slytherin table. Sitting down he grabbed some sandwiches.

'Hello Severus'. Looking up he saw Lucius Malfoy reach the table and take the seat across from him. He had his shoulder length white blonde hair in a pony tail tied with a black ribbon and looked as impeccable as always.

'Lucius', replied Severus. Lucius was one of the few friends he had in Slytherin. Although he was in his sixth year and Severus was a year younger, they had bonded over their mutual thirst for knowledge. Lucius had noticed Severus was brilliant in potions and after hours spent together discussing various potions related topics they had soon become friends. It felt good to be able to share his passion and Lucius, although did he not love potions as much was top of his year and wanted to remain so, and therefore relished the chance to improve his knowledge in any subject.

'Where have you been this morning? I've been looking for you all over'.

'I've been in the library catching up on yesterday's work'.

'Oh yes, I heard you had to miss class. Was it those Gryffindors again?'

'Who else could it have been', grumbled Severus.

'Well, as luck would have its idiotic mudblood lovers that I want to talk about', said Lucius lowering his voice and leaning in closer.

Snape bristled slightly at hearing the word mudblood but leaned closer to Lucius. After years spent in Slytherin he had learned to not let it phase him. At first he had felt angered on Lily's behalf when but realised no one would stop if he protested and instead it would only ostracise himself more.

Looking round and noticing there were a few students in hearing distance, Lucius put up a silencing charm.

'Severus, do you know anything about someone called Lord Voldemort'.

Lord Voldemort? He hadn't heard of anyone with that name, but then he never read the Daily Prophet. He couldn't afford the subscription. And from the few times he had read Lily's copy, he didn't think he was missing much.

'No, who is he?'

'He's someone important.'

* * *

 **Regulus**

Regulus was currently in the Great Hall pushing food round his plate as he snuck glances down the table to where Lucius Malfoy sat talking with Severus Snape.

He didn't really know much about Severus Snape, apart from that he was a half-blood and his brother and his friends seemed to enjoy picking on him. Snape mostly kept to himself in Slytherin, but then who could blame him since as a half-blood he was already at a disadvantage. Nevertheless he had managed to build a reputation at being quite talented in potions which no one could deny and had gained himself a grudging respect from other members of the house.

However Regulus wasn't interested in Snape, it was Lucius he was watching. He couldn't hear their conversation, and had no idea what they could be discussing. Sighing to himself, Regulus thought about the events which had led to him sat in the great hall trying to discreetly look at Lucius Malfoy. It had started this past summer.

This past summer had been the worst yet. Sirius had walked out on his family, on him. Ever since Sirius had started at Hogwarts he had become distant. He never wrote to his parents or him. It was as if when he was with his friends his family didn't exist. And when he was at home, Regulus would just hear endless arguments between his parents and Sirius, usually resulting in Sirius storming out of the house and returning only to sleep. But however bad it had gotten, he never expected his brother to leave. He had left all of a sudden one day, without even an explanation or good-bye. Now he saw him flouncing round the school with his friends acting like he didn't have a care in the world. Well if he meant nothing to Sirius, then Sirius meant nothing to him.

It was a wonder he supposed how different they were considering they were almost identical; they both had grey eyes but where Sirius had wavy hair, Regulus's was straight and cropped short. Regulus didn't think he could ever have left like Sirius did.

He wasn't sure what he would have done this past summer without Narcissa. Since as long as he could remember, Narcissa was always there for him. Throughout his childhood he could remember Sirius would go and hang around with his cousin Andromeda, Bellatrix would always be following their parents round hanging off every word they spoke and he and Cissa would sneak off and play in the garden. Cissa would always have a stash of sweets he never knew where from hidden in the hollow of a tree, and she would only share them with him.

Even as children, he had been closer to her than Sirius. When she left for Hogwarts, the same year as Sirius, he felt more heartbroken for her leaving than he had for him. However where Sirius seemed to have forgotten him the moment he had set foot on the Hogwarts Express, Cissa had written every week without fail. And every time Sirius had stormed out the house, he had gone to her to cheer him up and take his mind off everything with soft words and sweets things.

So when Sirius had left at the start of summer, he had gone to her again for comfort. They had spent every day of the summer together. She loved flowers and spending time outside, so most of their days had been spent at her house in her garden. She had decided that as her summer project she wanted to redesign a section of her parent's garden. So he had sat on a sun lounger on the grass watching her most of the time tinkering around with flower pots, telling the house elves what to change and providing input when she asked.

But things had come to a head one day. He had been reading a book in the sun lounger when Narcissa had come over and sat on the end of it.

'Reggie, there's something important I want to ask about.'

'What is it? Is something wrong?'

Narcissa put up some silencing wards. Even though they were in her garden, you could never be too careful, especially with Bella near. She had a nasty habit of listening to other peoples conversations.

'Don't worry, nothing's wrong. It's just something happened to my friend before we came back home, and I've been thinking about it ever since.'

'What happened?' Regulus couldn't help feeling apprehensive.

'You know Felicity Flint, she's got brown curly hair.'

Regulus nodded, he had seen Narcissa hang out with a girl like that round Hogwarts.

'Well before term finished, she found her soul mate.'

Regulus froze in shock. He knew about soul mates, everyone did. But they felt a bit like a myth. He knew his own parents weren't soul mates. Soul mate's wasn't something most purebloods thought about much, since most marriages tended to be arranged. However there was always gossip about people having affairs with soul mates. He knew it was the secret fear of some purebloods to find there soul mate was a mudblood, and the horror of a muggle soul mate wasn't even worth contemplating. So in many ways not knowing your soul mate was a blessing.

When Narcissa realised Regulus wasn't going to say anything she continued.

'I haven't been able to stop thinking about it. Wouldn't you want to meet your soul mate? Someone who is perfect for you.'

Regulus nodded again.

Narcissa took a big breath. 'Well then I thought what if I've already found my mate?'

'W-what?!' Regulus suddenly looked up, shock forgotten. 'Who? Who do you think it is?'

Narcissa's face was pink, Regulus suddenly noticed. She also wasn't looking at him. Was she nervous? He didn't think he had ever seen her fazed by anything.

'You Regulus!'

'M-me?'

'Of course you, who else could it be? I've been reading about them. Apparently when you meet them, you feel strongly for them and feel the need to be around them. And that's always been you Regulus!'

By now her face was even pinker and her dark blue eyes were looking straight at him. The sun was shining in her golden hair giving her a halo and Regulus didn't think she had ever looked better than in that moment.

Regulus grinned.

'Oh Merlin, I hope you are.' He said as he scooted closer to Narcissa.

'Really?'

'Of course! Who wouldn't want you to be theirs Cissa?'

Narcissa grinned back, and grabbed his hand in both of hers. By now her face was a nice shade of red.

'Should we find out for sure then?'

They had moved to her bedroom to perform the Soul Circle spell. Regulus had a vague idea of what it was, but Narcissa had already read up on it.

The spell wasn't complicated. It was performed by people who suspected they may be soul mates but wanted to confirm it. The couple would say the spell at the same time standing opposite each other. If the couple were mates then a circle of light would appear between them in the air. The circle would be completely full of golden shimmering light. If a circle of pitch black appeared between the castors, they would know they weren't mates.

They stood about a meter apart facing each other.

' _A_ _nima_ _S_ _ocium_ _C_ _onfirmationem_ _C_ _irculo_ _!'_

There was a sudden flash of bright light and Regulus instinctively shut his eyes against it. Carefully opening them he saw a circle of bright golden light about half a meter in diameter had appeared between them suspended between them.

They were really soul mates! Regulus let out a breath he hadn't realised he was holding, just know understanding how much he was hoping it was true. He ran forward and enveloped Narcissa in a hug.

Narcissa hugged him back smiling, but looked slightly confused.

'Look Reggie.' She said gesturing back at the circle.

He glanced back, and noticed immediately what was perplexing her.

He hadn't noticed at first, too excited to just see the flash of light instead of darkness. But he now saw that the whole circumference of the circle was glowing, however only two thirds of the inside were. One third of the circle had a black opaque quality. This could only mean one thing. He had vaguely heard about something like this happening, although not unheard of it was certainly uncommon.

Regulus looked back at Narcissa.

'We have another mate', she whispered.

The two golden thirds represented themselves, but they had another mate.

They decided not to tell anyone, they were still quite young and there wasn't any rush for them to go from best friends to a relationship. They could take their time. Regulus imagined however that even if he did tell his parents they couldn't complain.

Narcissa was as pureblooded as you could get and also a fellow Black. Since there where only twenty-eight true pureblood families left in Britain, he knew everyone was related distantly in some way. Narcissa's mum was a Rosier and he had an Aunt who had married a Prewett.

After that day they had become even more inseparable, spending as much time as they could with each other. The confirmation of his new soul mate status made Regulus feel content and happy for the first time in a while. It was something he would never have believed he would have. However both of Regulus and Narcissa couldn't help but wonder who their third mate could be. They discussed it a few times, but neither said they felt a pull to anyone.

Until one day just before the start of school, Narcissa had confessed there was someone she had been thinking of.

'Lucius Malfoy.'

'Malfoy?'

Everyone knew of Malfoy. He was two years older than Regulus himself. Even without his reputation and commanding presence it was hard not to notice him. Added to that, everything about him screamed pureblood, from the way he spoke to the way he held himself was obviously the result of a aristocratic upbringing and due to his shoulder length platinum hair and pale blue eyes, he was strikingly handsome. His mother would be thrilled he supposed if he brought a Malfoy home.

Regulus imagined however that even though everyone knew of him, he doubted many knew who he was beneath the mask of his upbringing.

And this intrigued Regulus too if he was honest. What was Lucius Malfoy like under that mask?

After that Narcissa and he had decided on a plan: **Operation - find out as much about Lucius Malfoy as they could and use that information to their advantage to get close to him.**

So far it was failing miserably. Neither of them had had the courage to approach him. They didn't share any classes nor have any mutual friends, so there was no reason to naturally strike up a conversation out of the blue. And even if they did talk, what would they say?

So instead Regulus was now sat down the table from Lucius trying to covertly sneak glances at him.

Regulus sighed again. They weren't getting any closer to him.


End file.
